Doctor Who - The Colony Of Lies Part 15

Jamie and the alien had clearly taken their fight into one of the other rooms. A moment later that was confirmed when Jamie came crashing through the wall, which splintered and shattered under the weight of his impact.

Billy Joe could see that the fight had been going on for some time. Jamie was covered with blood and scratches. The stranger caught Billy Joe"s eye. The youth was pleased to see a fleeting look of relief cross Jamie"s face as he took in the feet that Billy Joe was still alive.

"The gun?" Jamie demanded, his voice sounding as rough as his face looked.

Billy Joe pointed over to where the energy weapon lay.

Jamie started towards it but before he had made any real progress the alien thrust a powerful arm through the hole in the wall and pulled Jamie to the floor.

Billy Joe could only look on in horror as his friend was dragged back through the rubble.

EPISODE FIVE.

Chapter Thirteen.

Zoe could tell the location of the Realist base long before she could actually make out any of the buildings; clouds of black smoke hung over it like marker buoys. As Veena brought their fighter lower, Zoe could see more signs of fighting: explosions, some battle droids and gunfire.

They "re under attack," she said, slightly unnecessarily.

"Guess we arrived just in time," replied Veena. "Do you think you can operate this weapons station?" She nodded towards a seat next to the pilot"s chair sited in front of the complicated weapons control mechanism. Zoe looked at it and the relevant pages from the manual she had scanned earlier flashed up in her mind. Set distance, firepower, aim and launch... all fairly logical for a girl like Zoe. "Yes," she said, after a moment"s thought. "Yes, I think I can."

She quickly changed positions and adjusted the seat; apparently she was a good deal smaller than the average Weapons Officer on one of these fighters.

"I don"t want to kill anything, though," she warned as she began to grapple with the controls.

Veena shot her a sideward glance. "They"re your friends down there, aren"t they? We"ll do whatever it takes to save them from this attack."

With that, Veena returned her attention to flying the ship.

"Get ready, we"re going in," she announced, and Zoe felt the nose of their craft dip lower.

The fighter craft flew low over the camp, too fast for any weapon to get a lock on it but not so fast that Veena and Zoe couldn"t get a glimpse of the terrain. Monitors in the c.o.c.kpit displayed still shots of the base, clearly showing the main site of the fighting and the three remaining Tyrenian battledroids.

"I"ll swing round again," said Veena. "See if you can take out one of those droids!"

Before Zoe had quite taken in what was happening Veena had sent her ship in a tight 360-degree loop. Zoe felt her insides churn and her face pull tight as the tiny fighter defied gravity. And then suddenly everything was the right way up again and they were heading straight for the settlement, this time flying even closer to the ground, close enough to throw up clouds of dust. Zoe peered through the haze, looking for the distinctive shape of the battledroids. She caught one in her sights and hit the trigger. A missile shot out of the launch tube on the underside of the fighter and roared towards the droid. Veena pulled hard on her joystick and the fighter shot up and away from the surface. It was still climbing when a ma.s.sive explosion rocked it from below. Zoe had clearly hit her target. Veena looked over at her.

"Good shooting,"

"Thank you," said Zoe, a little stunned.

"I think you may have overdone the firepower setting,"

suggested Veena with a laugh.

Zoe tried to see the extent of the damage she had caused, but there was a fresh plume of dense black smoke rising from the site now and it was all but invisible. Zoe crossed her fingers and hoped she hadn"t made things any worse down there.

Hali had heard it first; a buzzing noise a long way away.

She"d looked up and seen something in the sky, a black dot.

At first she had thought it was a bird but it quickly increased in size and she could see that it was nothing natural. As it came closer the sound became louder. Hali had grabbed Max and pointed excitedly into the sky.

"Look," she had cried, "they"ve come. They"ve come to help us."

Seconds later they had both dived for the floor as the fighter roared over the settlement. Hali had got to her feet as quickly as she could, just in time to see the craft begin a steep climb. Max had worked it out first.

"They"re coming around for a second look. We"d better get clear - we don"t know what sort of firepower they might have."

Ignoring the sporadic fire from the battledroids, Max, Hali and Keneck ran for their lives, heading away from the battle site. They had not gone far when the fighter craft began its second approach. There was a flash as a missile fired, roared into the heart of the settlement and then, a split second later, there was a ma.s.sive explosion that threw them all to the ground.

Billy Joe had also heard the sound of the fighter-craft and guessed that it was some kind of s.p.a.ce or air vehicle, but who was in it? More of the intruders sending reinforcements?

He wasn"t sure but he knew he had to get away - except he couldn"t leave Jamie. Alien weapon in hand, he hurried down the corridor to the room where the thing had dragged Jamie.

When he got to the door he could see the creature raising its fist above Jamie"s head, savage claws protruding from the back of his hand. Billy Joe brought up his weapon but knew already that he wouldn"t be able to get a shot off in time.

There was a deafening roar and his entire world rocked.

The far wall of the building was torn away, the force of the blast sending both Jamie and the alien flying.

Lorvalan was the first to recover. He looked at the gaping hole where a wall had been and saw more than a pile of smoking rubble; he saw a means of escape. The humans had secured the entrance to the building but now there was a new exit. And one they couldn"t have covered. Not yet.

Lorvalan instantly forgot the human he had been about to kill. The important thing was to get back to his people, to revive more of them to continue the fight on a larger scale.

Seizing his opportunity, he ran.

Billy Joe hurried over to where Jamie was lying. "Jamie are you..." he trailed off. He could hardly ask Jamie if he was okay when he looked as b.l.o.o.d.y and beaten up as he did.

Jamie, however, was made of sterner stuff. "It looks worse than it is," he said stoically and got to his feet. Billy Joe might have been impressed but for the fact that Jamie had then staggered and clutched his head. "Where"s yon doggie thing?"

he asked, trying not to wince with the pain. Billy Joe waved in the direction of the gaping hole. Jamie reached out, relieving Billy of the gun, jogged over to the hole and disappeared.

As the sound of the explosion died away Hali, Max and Keneck got to their feet again and looked back at the point of impact. The droid that had been targeted was completely destroyed; only bits of its caterpillar track remained. But behind the droid a large part of the building had also been destroyed. Suddenly Hali saw some movement through the hazy smoke that was rising from the site of the missile strike; it was one of the aliens, emerging from the wreckage of the building they had trapped them in. He began to run towards the mountains and, without stopping to think about her actions, Hali began to follow. She ran down the main street towards the point at which the alien had emerged.

"Be careful," cried Max from behind her. "There might be more explosives..." but the warning fell on deaf ears. All Hali could concentrate on was the escaping alien. Max"s cry, however, did reach the alien"s sensitive ears. He pulled up in his run and looked behind him. Hali, running after him, was totally exposed. He raised his gun and fired.

But his target was no longer there. A figure moving in a blur had appeared from the wreck of the building and knocked her to the ground and safety. Not wanting to jeopardise his escape, Lorvalan decided against a second shot and turned back to run. As he reached the edge of the settlement, he pulled out a communicator and sent a final radio signal to the droids and devices he and Zenig had set all those hours earlier. Simultaneously the remaining battledroids and a sequence of explosive devices round the mountainside perimeter of the town exploded, creating a virtual earthquake.

In the ensuing confusion, Lorvalan made good his escape.

Hali Devine rolled over and found herself sitting astride the chest of the man who had just attacked her. She pulled back a fist to pulverise his face but he reached up and caught her wrist. "Do you nae think a "thank you" might be in order?"

suggested Jamie with a smile. "I did just save your life."

The roar of an engine announced the return of the fighter craft but this time it didn"t unleash any further missiles - instead it hovered over the settlement and then slowly descended, landing just beyond the smoking ruins of the building in which Jamie had been kept prisoner.

Max, Hali and Keneck looked on suspiciously as two figures emerged from the fighter craft; they appeared human but were both wearing flight helmets that hid their faces. Jamie, however, thought he recognised the pet.i.te figure of one of the new arrivals, a thought that was confirmed a moment later when she removed her helmet and shook her hair free. "Zoe!"

exclaimed Jamie, delighted. He rushed to greet her and enveloped her in a huge bear hug that plucked her off her feet. Max and Hali exchanged looks. Apparently the occupants of the fighter were on their side after all.

The next hour was a confusion of introductions, explanations and clearing up. More of the Realists appeared and began to help with the task of repairing the damage that had been caused. The injured Tyrenian was found, patched up by Max and held in a secure storage s.p.a.ce. If and when he regained consciousness he was to be questioned. Jamie and Zoe caught up on where they had been and speculated about the whereabouts of the Doctor. Veena, overhearing them, was able to tell them that someone of that name had been with the Loyalist party who had met with herself, Cartor and Administrator Greene when their shuttlecraft had first landed.

They were in the Realists" Medical Centre. Like the majority of the buildings in the settlement it was a standard prefab construct, designed to be infinitely adaptable to various purposes. It was a plain, spa.r.s.ely furnished room with a half dozen treatment couches and beds. Although under-resourced compared to Max"s original medical centre back in Plymouth Hope, the few bits and pieces of high technology that the Realists" raids had managed to liberate were all fully utilised. Max was currently attending to Billy Joe"s wounds.

Like Jamie"s injuries, most of these were flesh wounds and Max was using a hand-held skin grafter to seal and clean the smaller ones. Jamie, whom Max had dealt with first, was lying on a recovery table. He had been told to lie still and relax but was defying those orders, sitting up and talking animatedly to Zoe and Veena.

"The question we need answering now," Veena interrupted, "is where did those aliens come from? Any ideas?" She looked around the room. Before anyone could answer there was a rumble of noise from outside. "No need to look alarmed. I signalled for some back-up," Veena explained and left the room.

As soon as she had gone Max turned to Hali. "I should tell them about the bunker..."

"What bunker?" asked Zoe.

Hali and Max explained to Zoe about the alien bunker he had discovered. "I don"t understand why they"ve suddenly woken up," Max told them. "I"ve been monitoring them since I first found them and there"s been no change in their status.

Why have they appeared now?"

It was a rhetorical question but Zoe offered an answer nevertheless.

"Perhaps they got some kind of alarm call. Do you suppose it"s a coincidence that they appeared at the same time as the Federation representatives?"

"You think there"s some connection between the Federation and these aliens?" asked Hali, frowning.

"I don"t know," Zoe admitted. "But I do know they"re not to be trusted."

Zoe explained about the refugee crisis and the huge number of new colonists that would shortly be arriving on Axista Four. The colonists were shocked.

"Kartryte needs to know about this," was Max"s p.r.o.nounce-ment when she had finished. "Our differences don"t really matter now, do they?"

Hali nodded. "We must get Zoe to speak to them."

"It"s a long ride to that town, though," Jamie reminded them. "Isn"t there a quicker way?"

Max had just finished dressing the last of Billy Joe"s wounds. "There you go, son, take it easy and you"ll be back to normal in no time."

"Back to normal? What"s that?" he asked bitterly. "Dog aliens running all over, soldiers from Earth flying everywhere, refugees flooding our lands... I don"t know what normal is any more. I just want to go home. I want to see Grandpa."

Jamie could see that Zoe was confused and explained that Billy Joe"s Grandpa was the sheriff, the Tam Kartryte that Max wanted her to meet.

Zoe had an idea. "I might not trust these people from Earth but that doesn"t mean we can"t use them..." She walked over to speak directly to Billy Joe. "You want to see your Grandpa and so do I; we"ll ask our new friends to give us a lift..."

Major Cartor was feeling distinctly uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable and more than a little angry. He had been summoned from the bridge to an urgent meeting with Administrator Greene but that had been only the beginning of his ordeal. When he had reached the Administrator"s cabin he found himself being talked to like some kind of junior officer.

"May I remind you, "Administrator", that I am the captain of this ship," he spat at the bureaucrat. The Federation official was sitting at the computer console, carrying out other business whilst simultaneously briefing Cartor. Greene looked up from his screen briefly, a dangerous glint flashing in his dark eyes.

"And may I remind you, Captain," replied Greene, somehow managing to make the word "Captain" sound like an insult, "that I represent Earth Gov and the entire Federation." He flicked a switch and turned off the screen. "I do think you should try and get a sense of perspective about this matter.

You might be captain of this ship but you are in reality merely a tool of the Federation. A tool that I have full authority to wield as I see fit."

Somehow Cartor managed to stop himself from reaching across and attempting to separate the Administrator"s head from his body. "Perhaps you should go down to the planet and handle the interrogation of this alien yourself?" he suggested, trying and failing to keep any hint of sarcasm out of his voice.

"Oh, I"m sure you can handle it, Major. One can always rely on you military types in matters where naked aggression is required. Do try not to kill it, though; that would rather ruin my plan." Greene paused for a moment. "You understand what I"m asking you to do?"

Cartor hesitated, and then nodded.

"Please close the door on the way out, Major," said Greene, turning away and reactivating his screen.

Cartor, choking back his anger, left the room, not trusting himself to speak again. In the reflection on his screen Greene watched the Captain go and smiled a secret smile to himself.

He liked dealing with the military mind: so straightforward, so black-and-white and so gloriously malleable.

The Doctor and Kirann had been over the same material countless times now but were no nearer to discovering anything new. The Doctor started running through auxiliary systems, seeing whether there was any alternative contemporary information recorded elsewhere in the system - weapons logs, damage reports, anything.

"That"s very odd," he announced presently. Kirann, who was moodily examining a crew manifest, looked up. "What is it?"

The Doctor waved in the direction of the console he was working on. "There"s been some deliberate damage done here.

Files have been wiped. Irretrievably."

"Damage incurred during the crash?" asked Kirann, joining him.

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no, I don"t think so. Look: these sectors have been completely removed. That"s not accidental damage; this memory core has been intentionally amended."

"Is there nothing left at all? Not even a fragment?"

The Doctor worked at the console for a moment or two, calling up disparate files and trying to amalgamate the fragmented data. "That"s the best I can do," he announced finally, as a five-second, partially reconstructed video sequence appeared on the screen. It was a video feed from a gun camera towards the rear of the colony ship and displayed a shot of a starscape. There didn"t appear to be anything else in the sequence save for a flash at the end.

"Can you freeze the frame?" Kirann asked. The Doctor did as she had asked and Kirann jabbed a finger at part of the screen. "What"s that?" she demanded.

The Doctor fiddled with the controls and managed to magnify the relevant sector of the screen. The image was blurry, pixelated, but not impossible to read.

"A satellite of some kind," muttered the Doctor.

"It"s not one of ours," said Kirann. "Can you magnify that flash near the end in the same way?"

The Doctor cleared the image of the mysterious satellite and refocused on the flash.

"It"s weapons fire!" exclaimed Kirann, shocked. "Look: just before the flash there"s a fleeting glimpse of part of some other ship."